Kate Winslet is full of hidden talents. The most important of them? Hold your breath underwater. It’s an unusual ability that she discovered on the set of Avatar: The Way of Water, where she set a shocking personal best of seven minutes and 15 seconds without oxygen.
“I have the video of me showing up and saying, ‘Am I dead, have I died?’ And then: ‘What was [my time]?’” said Winslet Magazine complete film in an interview on December 13. “I immediately wanted to know what time it was. And I couldn’t believe it… The next thing I say is, ‘We have to radio.’ I wanted Jim to know right away,” she continued, referring to the director of the “Avatar” sequel, James Cameron.
Although Winslet assured everyone that there was no way she would have to hold her breath for that long, she just couldn’t pass up the opportunity to test her limits. “I didn’t have to hold my breath for more than seven minutes. It just so happened that the opportunity to set a record presented itself,” admitted Winslet. “I wanted to break my own record, which was already six minutes and 14 seconds. And I said, ‘Come on!’ So I broke my own record by a minute,” she explained. Cameron later joked about Winslet’s ambitious spirit, saying sarcastically, “She’s not competitive at all.”
Corresponding diversity, Winslet’s ‘Avatar’ co-stars may have encouraged this friendly competition, with Sigourney Weaver holding his breath underwater for a total of six and a half minutes and Zoe Saldaña coming close behind with a personal best of five minutes. As Cameron said The New York TimesWhile this underwater ability wasn’t a requirement for Winslet’s aquatic character, Ronal, it was still a welcome surprise on set.
“Kate’s character is someone who grew up underwater as an ocean-adapted Na’vi—they’re so physically different from the forest Navi that we’d almost classify them as a subspecies. So she had to be absolutely calm underwater,” he explained. “She turned out to be a natural.”